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In a recent episode of the podcast Hidden Brain, researcher, and author Dacher Keltner talks about what happens when we experience awe. It turns out that stopping to look at nature creates deep joy and happiness in human beings.

Buried with Christ in death, joined to him in the waters of baptism, and raised with him to new life every day by default means that we are ‘in the Lord.’ And being joined to God in Christ Jesus means that God’s vision of mercy, justice, and love become our own vision…

The Lord will preserve you from all evil and will keep your life. The Lord will watch over your going out and you're coming in, from this time forth forevermore. —Psalm 121.7-8

The [formerly blind] man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.”

Catching a new vision can be messy business. In Jesus’ case in John 9, it was a muddybusiness, that included literal dirt, bathing, and neighbors arguing. Do you ever get the sense that we are living this story?

Being open to God’s vision can be something of an enigma for me. I don’t know about you, but I often start to dream, plan, pray about, and imagine how a certain thing might turn out.

I can really sympathize with Samuel . He was called by God to anoint Saul as king over Israel, only Saul disobeyed God – and God decided to go another route. Reading 1 Samuel 15-16 over again, it doesn’t even seem like Samuel and Saul were good friends, and yet Samuel grieved that what was potentially going to be a good thing never panned out.

The daffodils in the courtyard at the Synod Office started poking through the ground this week. Seems a little early to me, but these beautiful green shoots are just one more reminder that this world is bigger than this moment. It’s bigger than the war in Ukraine, it’s bigger than hateful legislation, hungry people struggling to get out of poverty, and my own brokenness.

Looking back over this week, we’ve asked questions like, “Is God with us or not?” We’ve wondered about where and how God shows up, as we look at sanctuaries that sit emptier than they used to be. We’ve wondered, what is the harvest God has in store for us? With whom can we share the story of Jesus’ selfless love and grace?

A modern day monologue version of the what the Woman at the Well said to Jesus (John 4:3-30).

Do you remember who first told you about Jesus? Or, can you think of a recent experience where someone has told you about how the love of Jesus has transformed them?

Have you ever moved into a house in the middle of winter? I have had occasion to do this and the spring and summer seasons turn into one big anticipatory waiting and watching – what will sprout and grow in the yard?

I remember being at Glacier National Park as a teenager, and the awe I felt climbing to the top of the mountain, a valley of wildflowers and lake below, surrounded by even taller mountains, all sorts of wildlife, and a clear blue sky – it is one of the holiest places I’ve experienced.

Confession: mornings are not always my best time. And Sunday mornings, when I’m trying to get myself and my children up and moving, are especially not always my best. As much as I am loathe to admit it, there are many Sunday mornings when we finally get to the car after having yelled myself and my children there.

These words are hitting differently this year as we reimagine faith. In fact, these verses are so well-known to those of us who have been Christians for any length of time, I wonder if their power has diminished for us. Or at the very least, if we have stopped getting curious about how they speak to our lives.

Sometimes Paul can get so wordy, and the 4th and 5th chapters of Romans are prime examples of this! However, in this two-verse nugget, I was struck today by how my faith comes to me as a gift in part because of one person – Abraham – who trusted God’s unbelievable promise.